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Conjuring the Universe

Inhaltsangabe

The marvelous complexity of the universe emerges from several deep laws and a handful of fundamental constants that fix its shape, scale, and destiny. There is a deep structure to the world which at the same time is simple, elegant, and beautiful. Where did these laws and these constants come from? And why are the laws so fruitful when written in the language of mathematics?

Peter Atkins considers the minimum effort needed to equip the universe with its laws and its constants. He explores the origin of the conservation of energy, of electromagnetism, of classical and quantum mechanics, and of thermodynamics, showing how all these laws spring from deep symmetries. The revolutionary result is a short but immensely rich weaving together of the fundamental ideas of physics.

With his characteristic wit, erudition, and economy, Atkins sketches out how the laws of nature can spring from very little. Or arguably from nothing at all.

Whether pondering black holes or predicting discoveries at CERN, physicists believe the best theories are beautiful, natural, and elegant, and this standard separates popular theories from disposable ones. This is why, Sabine Hossenfelder argues, we have not seen a major breakthrough in the foundations of physics for more than four decades. The belief in beauty has become so dogmatic that it now conflicts with scientific objectivity: Observation has been unable to confirm mindboggling theories, like supersymmetry or grand unification, invented by physicists based on aesthetic criteria.

The Tangled Tree

A Radical New History of Life

Autor:
David Quammen

Sprecher:
Jacques Roy

Spieldauer: 13 Std. und 48 Min.

Ungekürztes

Gesamt

4 out of 5 stars
5

Sprecher

4 out of 5 stars
5

Geschichte

4 out of 5 stars
5

In the mid-1970s, scientists began using DNA sequences to reexamine the history of all life. Perhaps the most startling discovery to come out of this new field is horizontal gene transfer (HGT), or the movement of genes across species lines. For instance, we now know that roughly eight percent of the human genome arrived not through traditional inheritance from directly ancestral forms, but sideways by viral infection - a type of HGT. In The Tangled Tree David Quammen chronicles these discoveries through the lives of the researchers who made them.

5 out of 5 stars

Science is the only news

Von
Rolf Mueller
Am hilfreichsten
24.03.2019

Reality Is Not What It Seems

The Journey to Quantum Gravity

Autor:
Carlo Rovelli

Sprecher:
Roy McMillan

Spieldauer: 6 Std. und 11 Min.

Ungekürztes

Gesamt

5 out of 5 stars
35

Sprecher

5 out of 5 stars
30

Geschichte

5 out of 5 stars
30

From the best-selling author of
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics comes a new audiobook about the mind-bending nature of the universe. What are time and space made of? Where does matter come from? And what exactly is reality? Scientist Carlo Rovelli has spent his whole life exploring these questions and pushing the boundaries of what we know. Here he explains how our image of the world has changed throughout centuries.

In 1939, Richard Feynman, a brilliant graduate of MIT, arrived in John Wheeler's Princeton office to report for duty as his teaching assistant. A lifelong friendship and enormously productive collaboration was born, despite sharp differences in personality. The soft-spoken Wheeler, though conservative in appearance, was a raging nonconformist full of wild ideas about the universe. The boisterous Feynman was a cautious physicist who believed only what could be tested. Yet they were complementary spirits.

The Big Picture

On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself

Autor:
Sean Carroll

Sprecher:
Sean Carroll

Spieldauer: 17 Std. und 22 Min.

Ungekürztes

Gesamt

4.5 out of 5 stars
57

Sprecher

4.5 out of 5 stars
52

Geschichte

4.5 out of 5 stars
51

Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on the Higgs boson and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions. Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void?

3 out of 5 stars

Not engaging did get better at end

Von
Laurie
Am hilfreichsten
10.01.2017

Lost in Math

How Beauty Leads Physics Astray

Autor:
Sabine Hossenfelder

Sprecher:
Laura Jennings

Spieldauer: 8 Std. und 40 Min.

Ungekürztes

Gesamt

5 out of 5 stars
11

Sprecher

5 out of 5 stars
10

Geschichte

5 out of 5 stars
10

Whether pondering black holes or predicting discoveries at CERN, physicists believe the best theories are beautiful, natural, and elegant, and this standard separates popular theories from disposable ones. This is why, Sabine Hossenfelder argues, we have not seen a major breakthrough in the foundations of physics for more than four decades. The belief in beauty has become so dogmatic that it now conflicts with scientific objectivity: Observation has been unable to confirm mindboggling theories, like supersymmetry or grand unification, invented by physicists based on aesthetic criteria.

The Tangled Tree

A Radical New History of Life

Autor:
David Quammen

Sprecher:
Jacques Roy

Spieldauer: 13 Std. und 48 Min.

Ungekürztes

Gesamt

4 out of 5 stars
5

Sprecher

4 out of 5 stars
5

Geschichte

4 out of 5 stars
5

In the mid-1970s, scientists began using DNA sequences to reexamine the history of all life. Perhaps the most startling discovery to come out of this new field is horizontal gene transfer (HGT), or the movement of genes across species lines. For instance, we now know that roughly eight percent of the human genome arrived not through traditional inheritance from directly ancestral forms, but sideways by viral infection - a type of HGT. In The Tangled Tree David Quammen chronicles these discoveries through the lives of the researchers who made them.

5 out of 5 stars

Science is the only news

Von
Rolf Mueller
Am hilfreichsten
24.03.2019

Reality Is Not What It Seems

The Journey to Quantum Gravity

Autor:
Carlo Rovelli

Sprecher:
Roy McMillan

Spieldauer: 6 Std. und 11 Min.

Ungekürztes

Gesamt

5 out of 5 stars
35

Sprecher

5 out of 5 stars
30

Geschichte

5 out of 5 stars
30

From the best-selling author of
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics comes a new audiobook about the mind-bending nature of the universe. What are time and space made of? Where does matter come from? And what exactly is reality? Scientist Carlo Rovelli has spent his whole life exploring these questions and pushing the boundaries of what we know. Here he explains how our image of the world has changed throughout centuries.

In 1939, Richard Feynman, a brilliant graduate of MIT, arrived in John Wheeler's Princeton office to report for duty as his teaching assistant. A lifelong friendship and enormously productive collaboration was born, despite sharp differences in personality. The soft-spoken Wheeler, though conservative in appearance, was a raging nonconformist full of wild ideas about the universe. The boisterous Feynman was a cautious physicist who believed only what could be tested. Yet they were complementary spirits.

The Big Picture

On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself

Autor:
Sean Carroll

Sprecher:
Sean Carroll

Spieldauer: 17 Std. und 22 Min.

Ungekürztes

Gesamt

4.5 out of 5 stars
57

Sprecher

4.5 out of 5 stars
52

Geschichte

4.5 out of 5 stars
51

Already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, Sean Carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on the Higgs boson and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions. Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void?